Title
Human Resources Department recommending the Board adopt and authorize the Chair to sign the negotiated Letter of Agreement to the Memorandum of Understanding between the County of El Dorado and the El Dorado County Probation Officers Association representing employees in the Probation Bargaining Unit to facilitate the movement of incumbent employees in Deputy Probation Officer (DPO) (B) classifications to DPO (A) classifications.
FUNDING: N/A
Body
DISCUSSION / BACKGROUND
County of El Dorado (County) and the El Dorado County Probation Officers Association (“Association”) representing employees in the Probation Bargaining Unit, have an executed Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for the period of January 1, 2023, through December 31, 2025.
Prior to the adoption of the current MOU, the Probation Department and Association worked closely together to conceptualize a consolidation of the Deputy Probation Officer (DPO) field and Institution classifications in order to improve operational flexibility. However, failing to reach mutual agreement on the impacts of such a consolidation, the County and Association (“Parties”) instead memorialized in the prior MOU an agreement to continue to negotiate the issue of consolidating the DPO (field) and DPO-Institution classifications into a single, combined job classification series.
Those consolidation negotiations concluded concurrent with the agreement reached as part of the current MOU. A majority of the negotiated terms were incorporated into the current MOU and went into effect when the Board adopted the recommended consolidation. The MOU provided for the adoption of a new, consolidated field and institution class series DPO I/II/III (A) and Supervisor (A) (collectively “DPO-A”); retitling and amendment of then titled DPO (“field”) classifications to DPO I (B), II (B), SR (B), and Supervisor (B) classifications (collectively “DPO-B”); and memorialized the planned (future) abolishment of the DPO-B, so that only a single, consolidated DPO classification series would remain.
One agreed upon term that was not reflected into the MOU predated the adopted MOU out of administrative necessity. In order to ensure the County could confirm the number of allocations needed for the new consolidated DPO-A classifications, and associated lateral reclassifications, commensurate with the adoption of the MOU (in order to assign appropriate wage increases prescribed by the MOU), then-incumbent DPO (“field”) employees who wished to be reclassified to a DPO-A classification were required to submit their written request to Human Resources no later Thursday, January 5, 2023. No such voluntary requests were made, therefore only vacant and extra help DPO (“field”) positions were reclassified to DPO-A.
The Parties have a mutual interest in offering an additional opportunity for employees in the PR bargaining unit to voluntarily request lateral reclassification from a DPO-B classification to a commensurate level DPO-A classification as lateral reclassification furthers the Parties’ interest in progressing towards a single DPO classification series consolidation and planned abolishment of DPO-B classes, in a more timely and administratively efficient manner than otherwise might occur through competitive recruitment and selection processes or pursuant to individual reclassification study rules and methodology under the Personnel Rules.
Therefore, Human Resources Department recommends the Board adopt and authorize the Chair to sign the negotiated Letter of Agreement (LOA) which prescribes the process and deadline for the additional one-time opportunity, as well as updates other terms and conditions related to reclassification, including existing terms on probationary period.
As anyone who wishes to change positions from DPO-B to DPO-A outside of this one-time lateral reclassification process would need to do so through competitive recruitment (per the Parties’ agreement), the LOA also adds a new “right of return” eligibility for DPO-B employees who change employment positions (i.e. promote) through the competitive recruitment process. While both the MOU and Personnel Rules already afford “right of return” to previously held classifications; per the MOU, once a DPO-B class is vacated it is deleted and no employee can assume a DPO-B position for any reason (consistent with the planned abolishment). Therefore, should an employee change from DPO-B to DPO-A in a manner that requires secondary probation (i.e. through competitive recruitment), and should they fail secondary probation in a new DPO-A class, they would have a right to “return” to a DPO-A classification that was of commensurate level to the DPO-B classification they held prior to the position change (for such purposes, a DPO I [B] would be deemed commensurate level to a DPO I [A]). The existing MOU already provides specific conditions where the two distinct classifications would be considered “commensurate” at individual class levels.
The LOA shall become of full force and effect upon approval and adoption by the Board of Supervisors and shall remain in effect until modified by a successor MOU. Staff would return to the Board at a future date to recommend lateral reclassification and associated allocation changes as soon as administratively possible following the Parties’ prescribed deadline for PR unit employees to request lateral reclassification.
ALTERNATIVES
The Board could choose to not adopt the letter of agreement. In this case, employees could only be reclassified pursuant to existing criteria in the Personnel Rules, which, in part, necessitate a study of each incumbent’s position to determine appropriateness of reclassification, or alternatively, employees could seek to change positions though competitive recruitment. The alternative is not recommended as it 1) results in avoidable delays in achieving the County’s planned consolidation to a single DPO classification series, and 2) requires greater investment of staff resources related to the administrative functions of classification studies and/or recruitment and selection and associated processes.
PRIOR BOARD ACTION
This LOA amends the MOU adopted by the Board of Supervisors on January 24, 2023, Resolution 021-2023, Legistar # 23-0092.
OTHER DEPARTMENT / AGENCY INVOLVEMENT
El Dorado County Probation Officers Association and County Counsel
CAO RECOMMENDATION
Approve as recommended.
FINANCIAL IMPACT
The wage scale of DPO-A classifications is equal to DPO-B classifications, therefore there are no direct costs associated with the recommended action. To the contrary, there could be indirect cost savings associated with efficiencies in lateral reclassifications conducted in accordance with terms of the LOA, rather than through the administrative steps necessitated by reclassification under the Personnel Rules or associated with competitive recruitment to achieve the desired end result (movement of DPO-B incumbents to DPO-A classifications).
CLERK OF THE BOARD FOLLOW UP ACTIONS
1) Human Resources will provide the Clerk with three (3) original LOAs for the Chair to sign upon ratification by EDCPOA; and
2) The Clerk will return two (2) original LOAs to Misty Garcia in Human Resources once fully executed by the Chair, and retain one (1) fully executed agreement for the Board.
STRATEGIC PLAN COMPONENT
Good Governance
CONTACT
Joseph Carruesco, Director of Human Resources